Ben Rhodes, driver of the No. 27 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra, made his second career start at Gateway Motorsports Park (GMP) in Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Drivin’ for Linemen 200. Starting 12th, Rhodes finished 10th in Stage 1, and eighth in Stage 2. Restarting ninth in the Final Stage, the ThorSport Racing driver maintained a position inside the top-10 through the final 83 laps, battling a tight Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra. With 33 laps remaining, crew chief Eddie Troconis brought the No. 27 machine down pit road for the final scheduled stop of the night, under green, for four tires, fuel and adjustments. With a mix of strategy on pit road, and a late-race caution, Rhodes would cross the stripe in the eighth position behind race winner, John Hunter Nemechek.

Quote:

“Our Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra had speed during the second stage, but I think we had a couple issues with shocks or something in the first stage. We lost the platform of the truck in the race, which is really odd. So, we’re going to go back, go to work on that, and see what happened. We were also combating some brake issues in the race as well. We’re going to change up our brake package. Overall, just a big learning night for us on how we can make our Safelite Tundra a little bit faster. Like I said, we had speed in the second segment, but track position was huge tonight. You saw a lot of pit strategy play out, but we just weren’t comfortable enough to do that with some issues we were faced with. I’m already looking forward to Iowa next week. I think we’re going to run really well there. Everything we learned tonight is going to transfer over, and make our short track program even stronger.”

Notes:

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) had two practice sessions on Saturday morning in preparation for Saturday night’s Drivin’ for Linemen 200. Ben Rhodes was 12th, and third, respectively, in each session.

Making his second start at GMP, Rhodes started 12th, ran as high as eighth, and finished eighth in the 160-lap event.

In two starts at GMP, Rhodes has led four laps en route to one top-five and two top-10 finishes.

After eight starts in 2017, the ThorSport Racing driver has led 116 laps en route to three top-five, and five top-10 finishes.

In 35 career starts, Rhodes has one pole (Martinsville-1, 2016), and has led 171 laps en route to six top-five, and 13 top-10 finishes.

Up Next: The M&M’S 200 at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Friday, June 23 at 8:00pm ET.

About Safelite AutoGlass®:

Safelite AutoGlass® is the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services with more than 7,200 MobileGlassShops™ and company stores in all 50 states. Last year, nearly 6 million customers chose Safelite for its 24/7 national contact centers, advanced online scheduling, superior repair and replacement systems, and the industry’s only nationwide lifetime guarantee. Founded in 1947, the Columbus, Ohio-based company employs 13,000 people across the United States. For more information visit: www.Safelite.com.

About ThorSport Racing:

ThorSport Racing, based in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. ThorSport Racing, which has competed in the NCWTS since 1996, will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by two-time NCWTS drivers’ champion Matt Crafton, the No. 13 JEGS/RIDE TV Toyota Tundra driven by Cody Coughlin, the No. 27 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra driven by Ben Rhodes, and the No. 98 RIDE TV/Champion Power Equipment/Jive Communications Toyota Tundra driven by Grant Enfinger. For more information visit www.ThorSport.com.